Memorial Day is a day for Americans to honor military men and women who died in service.

Today, let’s also remember the four brave patriots who, although not in uniform, died on Sept. 11, 2012, while serving our country in Benghazi.

• Ambassador Chris Stevens was a career diplomat, and former Peace Corps volunteer. He was deputy ambassador to Libya during Moammar Gadhafi’s rule. Later he served as the Obama administration’s liaison to the Libyan rebels before becoming our first ambassador to a newly freed Libya. He was the sixth U.S. ambassador to be murdered in the line of duty — the first in more than three decades.

• Sean Smith, a former staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, was in Libya as an information management officer with the U.S. Foreign Service.

• Glen Doherty, a Winchester native and former Navy SEAL, was working in Benghazi as a private contractor for the State Department.

• Tyrone Woods was also a former Navy SEAL employed as U.S. embassy security personnel.

It has been less than a year since these men were killed by Islamic terrorists. Their killers are still at large.

And yet, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney regards Benghazi as something that “happened a long time ago,” and Secretary of State John Kerry thinks it’s time for us to “move on.”

Clearly, this administration would like us to forget Benghazi.

But, why?

To begin with, they want us to forget that they lied when they claimed that this clearly premeditated attack was a spontaneous mob reaction to a YouTube video that virtually no one in Libya had seen.

But they also want us to forget Benghazi for the same reasons that led them to lie about the nature of the attack in the first place.

Because Benghazi undercuts the president’s claim that the war on terror has been largely won and that al-Qaeda is on the run.

Because it undermines his argument that it is time to focus our resources elsewhere and that it is time to close Guantanamo.

Because it contradicts Obama’s position that the Arab Spring has been a victory for peace and democracy.

And because it belies the liberal narrative that this president has done what no other before him could — earn the love of the Muslim world.

It makes a difference as to whether we treat the investigation of the attack and ultimate apprehension of the perpetrators as an act of war or a routine criminal matter.

It makes a difference as to the future direction of U.S. foreign policy. For while a criminal act by a violent mob is an isolated tragedy, a terrorist attack implicates this administration’s Middle East policy and conduct of the war on terror and suggests a need to change course.

And it makes a difference as to whether or not Americans feel that they can trust their leaders to be honest.

Benghazi matters.

It matters because the truth matters — to the families of the deceased; to Congress (a co-equal branch of government with important oversight responsibilities); and to the American people — 69 percent of whom (according to Gallup) think that Benghazi deserves more investigation, and a majority of whom (according to the Washington Post) think that the administration is covering something up.

So, Secretary Kerry, we are not ready to “move on.”

The American people will not forget Benghazi. Not this Memorial Day. Or next. Not ever.